W.T.F (Wasted Technology Funds)

How many apps, tools, platforms, and data sources are you currently spending money on for each one of your SDRs? Do you feel like you are getting your money’s worth? Do you have systems in place to even answer this question?

QuotaFactory recently conducted a survey of 410 sales leaders responsible for the sales development function within their organizations. The main themes were around how they are spending their sales tech funds, what areas they prioritize first, and how many different sales tech solutions each of their SDRs are using at any given time. While the results of the survey were incredibly interesting, one stat we discovered was very alarming.

When asked how many non-CRM tools sales leaders are having their SDR’s leverage, the average came back at 7—7 different logins, 7 different UI’s (or SFDC integrations), 7 different implementations, and 7 different bills! The shear number of non-CRM tools in play leads one to assume that there must be a significant amount of technology funds being wasted on sales development teams.

We came up with a very original acronym for what we call this internally, “W.T.F”, or Wasted Technology Funds.

According to research from The Bridge Group, companies are spending an average of $425 per month/per rep on sales support technologies (excluding CRM). From email tools, database management solutions, social selling tools, e-signature solutions, stand up desks, nap pods, appreciation stations, lego tables, etc., it is fair to say that things have gotten out of hand. How much of this technology is actually being fully utilized? How many subscriptions for these tools and platforms actually get renewed? Do they even move the needle in terms of sales and sales development rep productivity? Most importantly, do they improve the interactions we are having with our prospective clients?

Unfortunately, our data indicates that the resounding answer to most of these questions is “I’m not sure”. We are in the golden age of sales technology. Think of an issue—there’s an app for that! We are experiencing an embarrassment of riches in terms of the abundance of sales tech available. However, there seems to be very little strategy being deployed around the “what to buy” and the “why to buy it". What good is shiny new technology if you’ve not done your due diligence to determine whether or not it actually solves a tangible issue for your team?

Furthermore, what impact is this having on the SDR that has 7 different tools in their toolkit? How does it impact onboarding of new SDRs? How does it hinder their ability to do what you actually hired them for…speaking live to prospective customers?

As with every blog we do for Sales Wars, we want the information to be actionable for our audience. These issues seem big enough to warrant a whole blog series. I’m excited to announce the “W.T.F” Wasted Technology Funds series from Sales Wars. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be gathering the top mistakes that thought leaders are seeing companies make around SDR tech purchases, and soliciting their expert advice on how you can avoid making the same mistakes within your own company.

In the meantime, I’m interested in how all of you are dealing with this issue internally. I’m sure many of our readers have inherited a tech stack that was poorly thought through. Please message me directly at pgracey@quotafactory.com with your ideas on dealing with this problem.